Improvement in explosive shells



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UNTTnn @Tarts Partnr @Tricia EIHVIN ESTAIROOK, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW' JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN EXPLOSIVE SHELLS.

Speclirution forming part el' Letters lutent No. elllli'i, dated January 2l, lrvll.

To all whom it 'ni/ay concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN Esrinnook, of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson, in the State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and Auseful Improvements in Explosive Shells for Vilar Purposes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The accompanying d rawings forni a part of this specification.

Figure 1 isa section partly in perspective through the center of a spherical shell. Fig. 2 is a corresponding view of the shell, with red lines showing the fractures; and Fig.. 3 is a section through an elongated shell. rlhe exterior form and the furnishing thereof with the projections or tetons represented is intended to be similar to the French rifle-can non proj ectile, generally known as the Beaulieu"7 or the Napoleon projectile.

Similar letters ofreference indicate like parts in all the figures.

To enable others skilled in the art to make .and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction n and operation by the aid of the drawings.

rlhe exterior of my shell A is similar to that of an ordinary spherical shell. The chamber or interior cavity is formed by coring iu a manner well known to melders, but the form ofthe core is peculiar. It is a regular or nearly regular polyhedron, the several faces being represented by B B2, &c.

The material which I have employed with success in cast-ing my shell is ordinary gray In the crystallization of this material, under the conditions presented by my inventien, there are planes of weakness extending outward from the core, as indicated bythe red lines in. Fig. 2. These weak places are well known to exist in castings under certain conditions'; but these conditions have never, as I am aware, been before realized in explosive shells so as to produce the effect of my invention. In my invention the areas 0f the plane faces B B2, &c., of the cavity being about equa-l. each to the other, and their arrangement being such that they form equal or nearly equal angles, the planes of weakness by yielding to the force of the explosion cause the shell to divide itself into pieces of a nearly uniform size and corresponding in number to the number ofthe faces ofthe cavity. .l have tested this A closed after the explosion.

feature of my invention and found the shell lo divide itself with great regularity, so as to insure a much more destructive effect than is produced by ordinary shells. ofthe pressure of the gases upon the several plane faces tends to rend the shell along the lines of fracture desired, irrespective of the difference of the crystallization, and in my invention the two forces conspire to insure the division in the manner shown. The crystallization in the planes, indicated by the .red lines in Fig. 3, in my shell is so'much different from that in other portions of the shell as to be plainly visible to the eye when the metal is cut open and properly polished.

My fuse-plug C, I prefer to make of brass. l prolong it into the center of the cavity of the shell, as indicated, and reduce the thickness of metal at the inner end, c, so thatit collapses and closes the communication so soon as the powder commences to ignite in the cavity of the shell. By its termination in the center of .the cavity it ignites the charge first at that point, and the combustion extends itself' from thence in all directions uniformly, there being a complete stratum or inclosure ol: unignited powder surrounding the ignited portion until the whole is 0n fire. rIhe explosion is, for this reason, more rapid. and energetic, and also more uniform in its effect on the several. faces ofthe interior of the shell. lily the collapse of the inner end ofthe fuse-plug, so as to close the aperture through the saine at the eommencement of the explosion, any considerable loss of force by the escape of through the fuse-hole is prevented. I have tested this feature of my invention and find that with a shell and fuse-plug of the proportions and dimensions shown fullsize in Fig. 1 the fuse-plug ben ing of brass and using common gunpowder, the end ofthe fuse-plug is found very tightly The general form assumed by the inner end of the inse-plug be fore or at the instant ofthe division ofthe shell. is indicated by the slight black. outline in. vFig. 2. A

By reason of all the several features of my invention I am enabled to make a thicker shell than the ordinary shell, and to be sure el' its division with tolerable certainly into fragments of aproper size. I am also thereby as sured of the projection of the several. pieces asunder with greater force than usual and with.

The direction less powder by reason ot' the l'aet that the gases are restrained by the thick shell during the period required to completely ignite the powder, and are. thus able to aet with more intense elastieforee to follow the fragments as they divide and scatter.

lfig. 3, as already remarked, shows a French rided-eannon projectile in section. The inner end of the fuse-plug` is made thin and extended into the cavity el the shell, so as to inl'lanie the powder at the Center instead of at the front ofthe foremost envity, and so as to collapse and elose bythe pressure of the explosion. In these features, therefore, this shell contains my invention. This figure also shows in section the forni which l prefer to give to the eores for sneh projectiles. 

